Remote air traffic control towers pose a unique solution to an aviation problem: remotely located airports. In such environments, it can be challenging (and more expensive) to staff traditional air traffic control positions. A digital based surveillance system in combination with on-the-ground cameras allows an air traffic controller to manage airports in remotely placed locations. The video feed from the remotely controlled tower can be linked into a network of multiple video feeds, offering a broad spectrum view of multiple data points. An air traffic controller—located elsewhere—uses these combined data points and video feeds for decision making. These systems are expected to grow exponentially in coming years—up to USD 0.3 billion from 2022-2027. Remotely controlled air traffic control towers are popping up all over Europe and just starting in the U.S.

Gene Hayman, Director of the Government Services division at Collins Aerospace (sister organization to Raytheon Intelligence and Space, which hosts remote towers), offers that “remote towers allow the aviation industry to focus on digitization of ATC [air traffic control] and ATM [air traffic management] systems without being tied down to a single brick/mortar location.” This move towards reducing brick and mortar towers is one advantage, as well as the increased data surveillance that such a system can provide.

Remote control towers offer other benefits too. Existing air traffic controllers can manage crowded runways in airports, linking geographically diverse locations via a multi-linked video feed of several airport systems. It also can increase job opportunities in remote areas where remote control towers need to be maintained and serviced. From complexities of staffing due to seasonal changes, overcrowding on runways, and even pandemic-related social distancing, they present unique solutions to complex problems. Pioneers in the field include companies like Rohde & Schwarz (Germany) and Indra Technologies (Spain). In this article, we learned what each of them had to say about this innovation.

Rohde & Schwarz Innovates in Ireland & Iceland

Dennis-P. Merklinghaus represents Rohde & Schwarz, a company that specializes in aerospace, defense, and cybersecurity, among other things. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the company has about 13,000 employees and subsidiaries in more than 70 countries.

Rohde & Schwarz pioneered CERTIUM® VCS which “dynamically connects to air-to-ground and ground-to-ground communications resources at the airport.” A fully IP-based system architecture, it offers a combination of “scalability and distributed infrastructure, which is ideal for remote tower applications,” Dennis shares. Other components include integration with their CERTIUM® RADIOS and high-resolution cameras installed on the runway and apron. Weather data, video messages, and text messages can all be integrated into one system.

This system is actively being put to use in Northern Europe. The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) and ISAVIA of Iceland operate highly demanding ATC needs over the North Atlantic. Annually, Shanwick OCA has 400,000+ aircraft movements and Reykjavik OCA has about 100,000. Merklinghaus elaborates, “CERTIUM® VCS systems are set up as two independent systems. One is located in ISAVIA's communications center in Gufunes, Iceland, and the other in IAA's communications center in Ballygirreen, Ireland. The direct IP link between the two voice communications systems allows advanced scenarios such as sharing of air-ground and ground-ground resources as well as virtual center operation.” Via this joint operation mode, it effectively allows for “radio and telephone communications as if it were in a single ATC center.”

Other benefits include increased staff satisfaction as “fewer staff members are required during unpopular and low-traffic night shifts when another center can take over operations.” Operations can continue remotely from another location if there is a power outage or natural disaster that affects accessibility. There’s “flexibility to the volatility that can arise from air traffic volume.” The latter is particularly important with North Atlantic flight routes with seasonal changes of the jet stream. “Now the two ANSPs operate as one network and handle traffic volumes jointly in their two flight information regions (FIR).”

Merklinghaus explains how these types of systems benefit large international airports and small airports alike. Low flight volumes at smaller airports make the costs of onsite, full air traffic control services more difficult to justify. And large airport hubs face a consequence of their expansion: visibility. More planes on the runway and aprons can affect visibility conditions, and seasonal fluctuations can make it harder to pin down appropriate staffing on ATCs. “A solution to these challenges is digitizing air traffic control functions, such as optical, voice, and data communications, and providing it either from a digital/virtual tower somewhere else in the airport or from a remote tower/center at a completely different location via a high-speed IP network.”

Indra Innovates in Hungary, Norway, & U.S.

Indra, headquartered in Madrid, Spain, has been servicing the air traffic, transportation, defense, and security sectors since 1993. It’s estimated that more than 85% of passengers in the world use Indra’s technology when they fly. Indra has a global reach within Europe, America, and Asia with business operations in over 140 countries and as many as 52,000 employees.

Indra is a market leader in remote tower systems too. In 2009, Indra supplied the British Air Navigation Service Provider NATS with the tower system for the world's first “remote tower,” a Virtual Control Facility at Heathrow.

Rodrigo García Saiz, Product Manager of Remote Towers at Indra, shares, “Remote towers is clearly the highest growth segment of the ATM [air traffic management] industry for the next decade with a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] estimated to be in the order of 20%. It is going to be great to witness the transformation of the tower control services in the years to come.”

They are currently heading up some of the largest remote tower projects in the world. The world’s largest remote tower is in Bodø, Norway, as a “shared remote control center (RTC) for up to 35 low traffic airports,” Rodrigo explains.

By the end of 2022, 15 airports will be integrated into the system with two already operational in Røst and Vardø. Avinor, a Norwegian air navigation service provider, manages the towers. Indra is the supplier of the tower and communication systems. Their InNOVA Tower System and GAREX Voice Communication System allows reliable communication with pilots and everything from meteorological information to traffic display. “As a key stakeholder in the whole project, we are gaining great experience and knowledge about the possibilities and constraints of shared remote control towers,” Rodrigo shares.

In Hungary, Indra “is delivering the first and only multi-mast (more than one point of view) digital remote tower system in the world, fully integrated (sharing information and functionality between heads-down and heads-up systems) with a conventional tower platform, including an A-SMGCS solution,” shared Rodrigo. The system “covers a large airport with complex geometry and obstacles such as terminals, buildings and so on.” The A-SMGCS system is a mandatory system to provide tower control in large airports. “Combining both, an airport might have the best of both worlds—the accuracy and safety provided by the A-SMGCS system and the increase in situational awareness generated by the augmented reality capabilities provided by the visual system, served both in a large shared video wall and also through individual displays in the controlling working positions,” said Rodrigo.

Indra has also partnered with Advanced ATC, an “air traffic control training company who is developing the market for digital remote tower solutions for non-federal airports in the U.S.” It’s currently financially approved and set to kick off into further project development in 2023. Rodrigo shared that in a digital tower, you can have infrared cameras which enhance the safety levels of what the control operator can see at night. The digital tracking systems support visibility of borders of the runway, taxiway, and other potential dangers. Besides situational awareness and safety, the remote towers improve access and affordability. Rodrigo explained, “Once the remote center has been implemented, the marginal cost for including one additional airport is very low, so many airports that cannot afford to have tower control today will be benefited by this fact.” Airports can then host more airplanes, thus increasing tourism and trade.

"There are roughly 2,000 airports only in the U.S. that have a sufficient number of operations to be considered of commercial interest by the FAA and, at the same time, are not large enough, or don't have sufficient economic resources, to afford having [air traffic] controllers,” shares Rodrigo. Growth areas for this industry that Rodrigo shared include automated alarms for detecting flocks of birds and other intrusions, improving camera quality, and new forms of vision—especially for low visibility in fog.

Whether it's Iceland or Hungary, remote air traffic control towers are providing digitized innovation that is much welcomed by airports. Remote towers can improve visibility, staff satisfaction, and coordination between geographically distributed airports, and serve as a lifeline to airports in remote locations. Industry leaders like Rohde & Schwarz and Indra provide uniquely designed solutions to service airports both big and small. The industry shows no signs of stopping any time soon and—following along from its significant progress in Europe—is set to grow in the U.S. soon too.